REVIEW | Swords & Dark Magic ed. by Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders (Eos)

With Swords & Dark Magic editors Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan have amassed an all-original collection of Sword and Sorcery from both new and long established masters of the genre. Overall the volume doesn't disappoint. There are a few ruts which didn't take off for me, but for those that did work well made this a memorable volume. What surprised me most was the pacing of many of the stories. What I'd call the old school authors seem to go for more of a slow build-up while the newer entrants for the most part vie to grab you from the first page with action. Now on to some of the highlights.

“Goats of Glory” by Steven Erikson - A very slow moving story for the most part. I was getting bored until the magic part finally got introduced and at that point I was hooked. Demon hordes are a bunch of pushovers when a group of warriors comes out of the mountains. A very satisfying ending with good action in the last third.

“Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company” by Glen Cook - The Company is on a bit of a lull as they have been stationed in one city without anyone to battle for months. When all of a sudden they are again tossed into the machinations of their betters. Definitely one of the better Black Company shorts I've read as it shows they are more than just the brawn and have got brains to back it up. Croaker keeps his usual tone and aplomb as the company figures out away to solve the heart of the matter without getting their own throats cut.

“Bloodsport” by Gene Wolfe -  In some ways this reminds me a lot of a GRRM Dunk & Egg story without Egg. A new Knight is made to play the games of their sovereign, but when the games are over and all else is lost they strive to better the world around them and give themselves a purpose. The world is left vague as Wolfe wants you to connect and care for the characters more, which he succeeds at adequately. Quite good, but felt unfinished.

“The Singing Spear” by James Enge - This was one of my favorites in the collection. It was over before I wanted it to end. Just the right amount of action and humor and wonderfully paced. You don't mess with a mad Wizard's bartender and live to tell the tale. I'll definitely have to get to the copy of Blood of Ambrose I bought a while back soon. Enge has created quite a memorable character I'd like to explore a bit more.

“A Rich Full Week” by K. J. Parker - A zombie Sword & Sorcery tale with a Priestly Philosopher cum Wizard. As with most Parker stories she goes for a different angle than most would as the Philosopher doubts himself yet is still able to project the persona he needs to to survive and get the job done and get the walking deadman. Very good inner dialogue.

“A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet” by Garth Nix - The first Nix I've read and what an inventive world he has here which we just get a peek at. Sir Hereward a injured knight is recuperating as his puppet manservant is off exploring the area they are staying in. The knight wants to get a present for his puppet man Mister Fitz, which leads to a nice battle with a treacherous demon. I definitely want to check out some more Nix now. Nix also has a free story with the same characters available online, which precedes this one.

“Red Pearls: An Elric Story”  by Michael Moorcock - Big literary confession time. I can't remember ever reading an Elric story before in novel or short form. That will be changing since "Red Pearls" introduced me to an amazingly weird world and leading character. I'm not sure where it falls in the pantheon of Elric stories and I have a feeling it fills in a gap that fans have wanted, but nonetheless it was easy to follow and certainly gave you a good flavor for what Moorcock is known for.

“In the Stacks” by Scott Lynch - Hands down the best story in the volume. Lynch's imagination is in top form as Wizards in training must venture into the bowels of an ancient magical library to return books to their proper stations. In some ways this is what we'd get if Jasper Fforde decided to go for more of a traditional Fantasy tale. Splendid and just plain fun. The prose and characters are as always well done and this shows the gentler side of Lynch.

“The Sea Troll’s Daughter” by Caitlin R Kiernan - For some reason this is one of the stories that is most staying in my mind and I'm having a hard time pinning down why that is. It is a story that shows heroes are not always the best people as the heroine in this case has a drinking and attitude problem. In a juxtaposition the Sea Troll's daughter comes off more humane than that of the heroine although it has a bit of a non-ending.

“The Fool Jobs” by Joe Abercrombie - As always Abercrombie does an amazing job at introducing an unusual cast of characters and putting them in a very awkward situation as they search for a magical something, but what that magical something is is not at all clear. This takes place in the North of the First Law world with Craw who some of you may remember unless you blinked. Great twist of an ending like only Abercrombie can do, but I do think his work is more suited to long form. Or it could just be "The Fool Job"s feel too much like a prelude of what is to come in The Heroes. Which in essence it is.

If you are a fan of old school Sword & Sorcery this is a collection not to be missed. It is filled with everything S & S lovers want: action, magic, grey characters, and evil baddies. A few key stories brings this up a few notches in the anthology pantheon with the Nix, Enge, and Lynch being the biggest standouts. As for the goal of being a definitive look at Sword & Sorcery it missed the mark, but not by much. A few of these deserve inclusion in one of the Years Best Anthologies at the least. I give Swords & Dark Magic 8 out of 10 hats. Overall, I'll have to throw some curses at Anders and Strahan for putting such a good anthology together and exposing me to so many authors I've been meaning to try, some for more than a decade, and by extension making me buy a few books by these authors. I'm definitely going to try a Nix and have to decide on what Elric book to start with. Any suggestions?


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MISHMASH | Scott Lynch, Tad Williams, Jim Butcher, & updatery

I finally finished my review of Blake Charlton's Spellwright, which will go up tomorrow. Also, Blake and I have something special in store for you lucky readers so stayed tuned. This past weekend I zoomed through Joe Hill's Horns, which just may be the best book I've read this year. Horns is a Horror story with a devilish heart, which is hard to come by. Hill has certainly grown as a writer with impeccable plotting and endearing characters. I devoured it in 3 sittings and nearly didn't go to a friend's party just to get further. Yeah, it is that good. Any loss of sleep that ensues is worth every second.

I've also got a review brewing for Lavie Tidhar's very strange yet entirely enjoyable The Bookman, which didn't come as too big a surprise given his work thus far. Lastly but certainly not leastly, I'm a third of the way through Sam Sykes's debut Tome of the Undergates.   Not nearly as bloody as I thought it would be, at least to start. So far I like the characters despite them acting like a group of unruly fifth graders. The style reminds me a bit of Abercrombie with a dash of Lynch thrown in for good measure, but still wholly different. If it is gritty Fantasy you've been dying for than Tome will certainly be the answer for you as Sykes has made the name Adventurers out to be a very bad thing.

As announced from Wert Scott Lynch has officially submitted the long awaited The Republic of Thieves to his publishers. Publication is slated for Spring 2011 on both sides of the pond. I'm a little surprised Lynch hasn't made mention of this on his blog. Hopefully his bout with swine flu didn't knock him down too hard as it did with my wife.

The lovely Mrs. Tad Williams has announced that the fourth Shadowmarch book titled Shadowheart will be published in November simultaneously with the paperback edition of Shadowrise. Mrs. Williams has been a veritable font of info regarding Tad and his work through her twitters. It has been interesting to read about an author through the eyes of someone so close.

Next up we have the covers to the Evil Hat production of the Dresden Files RPG, which are quite colorful and action oriented when compared with the series books..

Also, Jim Butcher often pops on to his forums to answer questions and one in particular got him talking about the history of the White Council and why they don't just run the world.  It is well worth checking out if you are a Dresden fan. His post is at the bottom of the page so scroll down.  Butcher has also confirmed that the Dresden short story collection Side Jobs will be out October 26th in the US.  And below is the tentative table of contents sans the new work, which is still in progress.

• *  "Restoration of Faith"
• *  "Vignette"
• *  "Something Borrowed" -- from My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
• *  "It's My Birthday Too" -- from Many Bloody Returns
• *  "Heorot" -- from My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon
• *  "Day Off" -- from Blood Lite
• *  Backup -- novelette from Thomas' POV, originally published by Subterranean Press
• *  The Warrior -- novelette from Mean Streets
• *  "Last Call" -- from Strange Brew
• *  "Love Hurts" -- from Songs of Love and Death

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MISHMASH | Swords and Dark Magic Contents & Recent Deals

According to Publisher's Marketplace Alex Bledsoe has signed with TOR for 2 more Eddie LaCrosse adventures following The Sword-Edged Blonde and Burn Me Deadly.  The third book in the series is titled Dark Jenny, in which the sword jockey is suspected of murder in an island kingdom, and forced to find the real killer to save his own life for publication in 2011 with the fourth book in 2012.

John Joseph Adams recently signed with Night Shade Books for yet another reprint anthology titled Brave New Worlds, which will feature the best of dystopian fiction from best-selling authors.

Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan have officially posted the table of contents for their anthology Swords and Dark Magic: The New Swords and Sorcery coming from EOS in June 2010 along with a limted edition from Subterranean Press as well.

1.Introduction, Lou Anders & Jonathan Strahan
2.“Goats of Glory”, Steven Erikson
3.“Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company”, Glen Cook
4.“Bloodsport”, Gene Wolfe
5.“The Singing Spear”, James Enge
6.“A Wizard of Wiscezan”, C.J. Cherryh
7.“A Rich Full Week”, K. J. Parker
8.“A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet”, Garth Nix
9.“Red Pearls: An Elric Story”, Michael Moorcock
10.“The Deification of Dal Bamore”, Tim Lebbon
11.“Dark Times at the Midnight Market”, Robert Silverberg
12.“The Undefiled”, Greg Keyes
13.“Dapple Hew the Tint Master”, Michael Shea
14.“In the Stacks”, Scott Lynch
15.“Two Lions, A Witch, and the War-Robe”, Tanith Lee
16.“The Sea Troll’s Daughter”, Caitlin R Kiernan
17.“Thieves of Daring”, Bill Willingham
18.“The Fool Jobs”, Joe Abercrombie

What a line up.  Lou and Jon, you had me at Abercrombie and Lynch.  2010 is looking to be one of the strongest years for anthologies in quite a while.  We have Christopher Golden's impressive The New Dead, Lou Anders next anthology With Great Power that has an equally good line-up, GRRM and Gardner Dozois's all-star Warriors, Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio are doing something called Stories, plus GRRM and Dozois are working on another anthology called Star-Crossed Lovers for the second half of next year with stories from Jim Butcher, Robin Hobb, and Diana Gabaldon.

MISHMASH | Abercrombie, Lynch, and Inside Fantasy Worlds

Quite a bit has been happening in the SFF world. Here are some of the highlights: Scott Lynch has posted the prologue to the long awaited The Republic of Thieves on his site. Lynch also mentioned he will be contributing to a new Swords & Sorcery anthology titled Conquering Swords edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan with contributions by Glen Cook, James Enge, Steven Erikson, C.J. Cherryh, Joe Abercrombie, and Michael Moorcock. This should be released in mid to later 2010 and will be published by EOS. I'm quite excited by this line-up. Speaking of Abercrombie he has announced the title of his next First Law World book: The Heroes. Here is the synopsis from his site:

Both because the action centres around a ring of standing stones called the Heroes, and because it's about heroism and that (meant semi-ironically, of course). It mostly takes place over the course of three days, and is the story of a single battle for control of the North. Think Lord of the Rings meets A Bridge Too Far, with a sprinkling of Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. It's about war, you get me? Principally it follows the (mis)adventures of six assorted persons on both sides and different levels of command, whose paths intersect during the course of the battle in various fateful, horrible, wonderful, surprisingly violent, surprisingly unviolent, and hilarious ways. With the Northmen: a veteran losing his nerve who just wants to keep his crew alive, an ex-Prince determined to claw his way back to power by any means necessary, a young lad determined to win a place in the songs for himself. With the Union: A depressive swordsman who used to be the king's bodyguard, a profiteering standard-bearer, and the venomously ambitious daughter of the Marshal in command. But of course a fair few familiar faces show up on both sides...

I'm a little surprised Abercrombie is heading back to the North already as I was hoping for something South of the Union, but it will certainly be at the top of my to-read list. The Heroes most likely will not be published until around February 2011, so his short story to Conquering Swords will have to tide us over until than.

Lastly, John at Grasping included me in his latest Inside the Blogosphere question with this edition focusing on Fantasy Worlds. I'm included in the first post as the second entry here. Check out the 2nd half of the posting here.